Blackstone targets $4b for Asian real estate fund - report

Blackstone, which has become one of the world's biggest real-estate investors, will focus the fund exclusively on China and other Asian markets, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The fund's target amount is twice what the firm initially intended to raise. Blackstone is said to believe there is opportunity in Asia because property values have fallen as many of the region's economies have cooled.

The vehicle's existence was confirmed last December when Tony James, Blackstone's president, told a conference that it was a "golden moment" to engage in property market investment. Among the fund's LPs are New Jersey Division of Investment which plans to commit $500 million to the fund.

This is Blackstone's first regional fund. However, in 2010 the firm assumed responsibility for $2 billion worth of regional property assets when it replaced Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the GP for the Merrill Lynch Asian Real Estate Opportunity Fund.

Blackstone also announced a final close of $13.3 billion for its seventh global real estate fund, the largest opportunistic real estate vehicle ever raised, last October. China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) reportedly committed $500 million to the fund. 

The fundraise was followed by reports that Blackstone had secured the largest ever commercial real estate deal in India, acquiring a 50% stake in a portfolio of three business parks for $200 million. The firm has also agreed to purchase Shanghai's Huamin Imperial Building, an office tower valued at approximately RMB7 billion ($1.12 billion).

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• Topics
• Real estate
• Real estate
• Fundraising
• Asia
• The Blackstone Group
• Real estate